Survarium: New Year Diary

Thu, 29.12.2016 - 19:41

With the late December there comes a traditional time to round up the year passing by and build the plans for future. Within the past 12 months we have paid a lot of efforts to polishing the technical side of the game and developing the PvP-part of Survarium. Thus, we introduced the new graphics renderer for low-end PCs, pixel-perfect hit registration, pingless network synchronization, multiple improvements to the game’s performance and stability. A key step towards the fair play in Survarium was made with the integration of BattlEye anti-cheat service.

Among the key gameplay innovations there have been weapon modules, Artifact Hunt mode, tactical supplies, quick commands with voiceover, new user interface, changes in the Leagues system, daily quests and login rewards, as well as new weapons, in particularly pistols that we have focused on in the last few updates. Adding AI-controlled characters (bots) was yet another important step to have the project progress.

All those changes allow us build ambitious plans for the future of Survarium.

Having finalized the work on update 0.45 we got down to forming the development plans and priorities for the next year. Heated discussions are still going, but the top priority tasks have already been defined. Here’s the list:

Rebalancing weapons and gear

We want to bring the game weapons and gear to a simpler structure and make it more transparent to the players. For example, to implement a predictable scatter of fire, the more vividly defined classes of armor, make the gear weight impact the speed of movement more and so on. Additionally, we plan to reduce the overall number of equipment tiers in the game, which will not only provide more variations within each particular tier, but will also ensure faster match-making.

Modifying the system of anomalies and artifacts

We have received so many requests to revert to the old anomalies in the game that we cannot, but satisfy. We want to find the right balance between the use of static and dynamic anomalies, while ensuring they are correctly written into the canvas of the game in terms of balance between the opposing teams. In parallel to the changes in anomalies we also plan to revamp the characteristics and features of the artifacts, so as to make them more influencing the gameplay.

Co-op

We haven’t forgotten and realize how important it is to develop new possibilities for the players, the traditional PvP modes aside. As first step, making use of the computer opponents, we would like to provide you with co-op missions playthrough on the dedicated maps. Further on, we plan to improve the abilities of the AI characters and add new types of NPCs, including animals and mutants, which will allow us improving the PvE component in the future.

System of skills and talents

We plan to redesign the current system of character skills to make the talent effects more sizeable, on one hand, and to make the factions differ more from each other, on the other one. Therefore, we plan to implement both universal skills for all the characters, so as individual ones, available purely with specific factions.

Advanced system of weapons modules

The system of weapons modification with modules has been a welcome addition with the players, so we’d like to expand the possibilities in that area. This relates as to increasing the overall number of weapon modules available, so as to changing the system of bonuses the modules deliver.

New weapons and gear, new maps

Of course, we couldn’t do without such things, so we are going to integrate those as our resources permit.

These are the key changes to Survarium we plan to make within the coming year. Further details on each of the features listed and more can be expected as we get to implementing those in-game.

On behalf of Vostok Games team let us share our sincere Thank You for supporting Survarium. May sound health, inspiration, joy and, of course, good luck in the battle abide with you!